Art of electric welding and repairing.



H. L. J. SIEMUND. ART OF ELECTRIC WELDING AND REPAIRING. APPLIOATION FILED .TUNB3, 1909.

967,578. I Patented Aug. 16,1910.

INVENTOR gnjssgw- ATTORNEY5 HEINRICH L. J. SIEMUND, OF NEW YORK, N. LY"- ART ELECTRIC WELDING AND REPAIRING.

speciflc ation of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 16, 1910.

Application filed JuneS, 1909. Serial No; 499,927.

To all whom it mag concern: V

Be it known that I, Hnmnron L. J. SIE- MUND, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, residing in the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in the Art of Electric Welding and Repairing; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which-it appertains to make and usethe same.

My, invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in electric welding and repairing.

As will hereinafter appear, the invention is applicable generally to the art of electric welding and repairing but has characteristic and specific advantages in its application to the electric welding and repairing'of parts which are difficult of access to the operator by reason of their location and which frequently cannot be welded in situ by ordinary welding operations even when the electric current is employed.

Simple and efiective means for practicing the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein,

Figure 1 represents, diagrammatically, a suitable installation for the purpose; Fig.

' 2 represents a separate View, on a larger scale, showing the welding clamp in its preferred form 1n 1ts applicatlon to the welding of a seam.

Similar letters of reference indicate simi lar parts in both views.

Referring to the drawings, G indicates a direct current dynamo, provided with an adjustable rheostat S in series with the field, and which, together with the field, is in shunt to the armature. The rheostat is employed for the purpose of'regulating the tension of the welding current as desired, it being usually found desirable to operate with a current of from 50 to 70 volts.

In the installation represented in Fig. 1, the plus brush a of the dynamo is connected through an automatic two-way switch, as shown in that figure, to a compensating or quieting resistance coil 0 and thence to the weldin clamp which holds the solid or hollow we ding wirem. This coil is calibrated to quiet the arc and prevent excessive fluctuations therein. For purposes of illustration, the installation is shown as applied to the welding of a lapped and riveted boiler seam, made up of the over-lapping plates E, F, riveted together along the lapped joint. The current passes from the outer free end of the welding wire w, through an electric are established from said end to the seam to be welded and thence returns by the return conductor-e to the negative brush 5 of the dynamo;

The -cross-section of the welding wire is so chosen that with the current employed it will bring to the welding temperature and to incipient melting that portion of the work which is to receive the molten addition of new metal, so that the molten new metal as it is supplied from the free end of the wire coalesces intimately and homogeneousl-y with the molten surface to which it is to be applied, thereby building up gradually and in small increments as the work proceeds an electric weld wherein the old and new metal are so intimately united that they become substantially integral.

When the surfaces to be united are of iron or steel'as in boiler construction,it is sufficient to employ a solid iron or steel wire of the same quality substantially as that of the boiler plate, and this wire is conveniently made up of short lengths of say ten to twelve inches and of a diameter of say one-eighth to three-cighths of an inch, so that, with the current employed (usually of about 200 amperes and 50 to 70 volts), the resulting arc, while sufiicient to bring the free end of the welding wire to a condition sufiiciently molten that y it will progressively detach itself from the main body portion of the wire, yet will be onl sufficient to raise to a like melting point that portion of the surface of the work with which the molten welding wire is designed to coalesce, the heat being insuflicient to materially affect the adjacent or more distant parts or to cause material deformation and resulting tensions in the welded structure as a whole. If the metal to be welded is of material having a difierent melting point than iron, it may, in some instances, be found preferable to increase the cooling surface of the welding metal in some suitable manner, for instance, by making the welding wire hollow, care being taken in every case that the welding wire during the process shall heat the place to be welded, through the intermedlacy of the arc, to the same degree as it is itself heated, so as to obtain the homogeneous coalescing of the welding metal with the welded surfaces as desired for homogeneous welding.

The welding clamp may conveniently consist of the. main body portion if and the spring metal blade 9, both of so t iron or steel connected by a rivet h, or the like, which rivet may also conveniently const1-* tute the point of attachment ofa small coil 5 of insulated copper wire, said coil enveloping a suitable portion of the handle of the clamp-and being connect-ed at its opposite end to the said handle. This copper coil being at both ends in electrical connection with the metal of the welding clamp constitutes a branch circuit, through which passes a portion of the welding current corresponding to the drop in tension between the points of the clamp to which the ends of the coil are attached and it consists of a sufficient number of ampere turns to magnetize the clamp and consequently to generate such a magnetic field that as the molten metal at the end of the iron welding wire m progressively detaches itself therefrom as the Welding operation proceeds said molten metal will follow the lines of force and will deposit itself upon the place intended for its reception, whatever may be the relative positionof the surfaces to be welded with respect to the clamp. Consequently whether the seam or other place to be wel ed is below the operator, above, or to one side, the welding metal will invariably' and with exactness follow the arc and attach itself to the place designed for its reception, even though the seam or the like should be vertically above the welding wire. This has the advantage that the operator can leave the Work in whatever position it chances to be, and without moving or displacing the work can form a continuous and reliable weld wherever it is possible for him to reach the place of weld by projecting the welding wire into sufiicient proximity thereto to establish and maintain the arc. narrow and contracted spaces, therefore, where it is only possible for the operator to follow the seam or the like with the welding wire, it is feasible for him to work with i'ng metal.

rapidity and etficiency whatever position the seam or other place to be welded may have, whether below, above, or to either side as the work progresses,a result which, in so far as I am aware, has never heretofore been obtained and which permits the effective electric welding in aim of marine boilers and like bulky and ponderous devices without requiring their displacement or the disconnection of any of their fittings.

In some instances, the welding operation may be directed toward filling out anew the worn holes of stay-bolts. or the like and thereafter cutting a new thread in the fill- So also, by first replacing the welding wire with an iron rod of larger cross-section, so that the current employed shall not be suflicient to melt olf its free end, the electric arc may be employed to entirely cut out and remove damaged portions of the boiler shell or other Work. I may then place thereon a patch to be subsequently electrically welded in place. In this manner it has been found readily feasible to cut out and remove with great rapidity a piece of one inch in thickness, it being merely necessary in such case to increase the tension of the dynamo to a degree corresponding to the thickness of the portion to be cut out, as, for instance, from 50 volts to say 100 to 110 volts.

Should it be desired to so practice the welding or repairing operation that the solid or hollow rod of welding metal shall be altered in character or quality as it melts off in the small increments desired, this end may be accomplished by coating the rod eX- ternally, if it is a solid rod,or by filling it, if it is hollow, with a suitable compound or material, so. that, under the influence of the welding arc, the material selected for-the coating or filling of the rod will, as the welding metal melts, elfect the desired conversion, as,'for instance, the production of a tenacious quality of weld where the metal if employed alone would tend to be more or less hard or brittle. A suitable compound for this purpose and its manner of application are described in my U. S. application, Serial No. 558,188, filed April 28, 1910.

It is highly desirable and practically necessary for satisfactory work to provide the installation with means for always insuring a certain load for the dynamo when in operation, so that the speed of the dynan'io and its actuating engine or motor may not suddenly rise when the operator breaks the Welding circuit, for the insertion of a new welding wire or for some other reason, and so that When the operator suddenly reestablishes the welding circuit the speed of the generator and its engine shall not be cut down so as to primarily give a decreased tension on the line. By this expedient, the arc is quickly reestablished after each interruption, without waiting for the current to build up, and accordingly the welding proceeds without annoyance to theoperator, his circuit being always in full operative condition when called upon, regardless of the number of times the arc may be extinguished either by himself or by one of his fellow workmen on a branch circuit; Thus, in Fig. 1, the 'automatic two-way switch illustrated comprises a movable soft iron core Z enveloped by the magnetizing coil A, of a sufficientnumber of ampere turns to raise the core and break contact between its base m and the carbon block y, when the welding circuit is completed by the establishment of the are m. The base m and the carbon block 3 constitute contacts in a shunt a wire rod of the welding or repairing 65 circuit including the resistance B, a flexible wire 2 and a lead to. With this arrangement, if the welding operation momentarily ceases, by the breaking of the welding are (due to any cause) the coil A becomes deenergized and permits the iron core Z to fall. In falling, the base we of the iron core makes contact with the carbon block y and establishes a new path for the dynamo current, to wit, from the plus pole at of the dynamo, by way of the binding post R, lead w, binding post Q and flexible wire Z, through the contacts m, y, conducting base 4) and resistance B to the minus brush of i the dynamo. When the welding arc is reestablished, this shunt connection is broken by reason of the energizing of the coil A, which thereupon raises the core Z. The resistance B is so chosen as to furnish the desired load for the dynamo during the momentary interruptions of the welding circuit, and consequently the dynamo is under constant load during the entire progress of the work.

If the output of the dynamo is sutlicient, the same dynamo may supply one or more additional welding circuits entirely separate from and duplicates of the circuit illustrated in said figure; or, as shown in Fig. 1, instead of a single welding clamp, one or more additional welding clamps may be employed, each arranged in a branch beyond the automatic two-way switch, each of these additional branches being likewise provided with a corresponding resistance C; all as indicated, for instance, in Fig. 1.

What I claim is:

1. The method of electric welding or repairing, which consists in establishing an electric welding are between the places to be welded or repaired and the welding or repair metal, maintaining a substantially constant load on the generator supplying the welding current, and likewise maintaining the voltage of the welding current, during temporary cessations of the welding arc, in such manner that after any such temporary cessation, the circuit will remain in condition to instantaneously reestablish the normal welding are; substantially as described.

2. An installation for electric welding or repairing, comprising a source of direct current supply, an arc welding circuit connected therewith and including a clamp adapted to hold a. iece of the Welding or repairing metal, and means for maintaining the tension of the'current during temporary interruptions of the are; substantially as described.

3. An installation for electric welding or repairing, comprising a source of direct current, an electric arc welding circuit connected therewith, a clamp adapted to hold metal, a magnetizing coil for said clamp, and a quietlng artificial reslstance coil inter- .posed between the are and the plus pole of the source of electric supply; substantially as described.

4. An installation for electric welding or repairing, comprising a direct current generator, an electric arc welding circuit connected therewith, a clamp adapted to hold a wire rod of the welding or repairing metal, a shunt across the branches of the welding circuit said shunt containing a resistance, and an automatic two-way switch having a solenoid coil included in the welding circuit.

and a core for said coil, said core governing contacts arranged in said shunt circuit, whereby upon the interruption of the welding circuita short circuit will be established through the resistance thereby maintaining the voltage of the current during the cessation of the arc, and permitting the immediate res'tablishment of the normal are after any such interruption; substantially as described.

5. An installation for electric welding or repairing, comprising a source of direct current supply, an arc welding circuit connected therewith and including a clamp adapted to hold a piece of the welding or repairing metal and a magnetizing coil for said clamp and consequently for the welding or repairing metal; substantially as described.

G. An installation for electricwelding or repairing, comprising a source of direct current supply, an arc welding circuit connected therewith and including a clamp adapted to hold a rod of the welding or repairing metal and a magnetizing coil for said clamp and consequently for the welding or repairing metal said magnetizing coil be ing included in a branch from the main welding circuit; substantially as described.

7. A clamp for electric arc welding or repairing, provided with connections for including it in the arc circuit, and provided with a magnetizing coil said clamp holding a piece of the welding or repairing metal; substantially as described.

8. A clamp for electric arc welding or repairing, provided with connections for including it in the are circuit, and provided with a magnetizing coil located in a branch of the arc welding or repairing circuit said clamp holding a piece of the welding or repairing metal; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

HEINRICH L. J. SIEMUND.

Witnesses:

JOHN C. PENNIE, LAURA B. PENFIELD. 

